A Healthier Diet, A Healthier Mind, A Happier World?
A healthier diet is a reward to our body and our minds, which in the long run rewards our communities and the entire world. Imagine a world of healthy living people. We would see much less sickness and much more happiness. Eating a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables gives our bodies the energy that these plants have sacrificed. The energy and life that resides in each living organism whether it be plant or animal is destroyed when we process it and put it in a box or a can to store on a shelf for years. All of the beautiful enzymes and nutrients that our bodies require for proper nutrition, digestion, mind function, and muscle coordination are lost when they are denatured by being over cooked and saturated with preservatives. Without venturing too far into the fact that the same thing is taking place with irradiating our meats, fruits and vegetables now, this is a topic of a different discussion. We will mainly just discuss the importance of fresh vegetables, fruits, and organic meats and dairy.
View Point 1: "A Life of not Knowing Any Better"
Growing up in a single parent home proper nutrition was a difficult task for my mother to achieve. I believe that money was not the true barrier in my mother's poor food choices; (although we were quite poor) I believe the main dilemma was a lack of knowledge in the importance of proper nutrition. Culturally, we came from a family of fast food eating, deep frying, mayonnaise loving people, so these habits were socially acceptable and no other thought was ever put into an alternative way of eating or cooking. Sure every now and again someone would hear on the news how bad a diet high in fat is, then the Atkins Diet would at the same time promote a diet high in fat and tell you not to eat the most essential carbs from fruits and vegetables. To this day most of my family including distant relatives still eats the same way because it's the only way they know. In the small town I come from there is not a nutrition class in the high school, nor would that even help if they are not taught the proper way of planning a nutritious meal. Needless to say along with the obesity I see a lot of unhappiness and depression in my relatives. Its seems no matter how hard I try to explain the importance of eating a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetable and minimal meats and dairy it does no good. I had my mother stay with me for a month last year. While she was here, her diet was filled with good nutritious foods and I added some supplements which I thought might be helpful. She lost close to twenty pounds and her face beamed life once again. I thought wow; she will really enjoy feeling good and looking good and continue this life when she leaves….Nope, not at all. She has since regained the weight and the life in her face has subsided. Without looking for proof of how important the link is between my mouth and my spirit was shown to me through my mother's visit.
View Point 2 "Learning a New Way"
Although being raised on macaroni and cheese was the way I was raised, it is the opposite of the way I live today. I feel I have firsthand experience when it comes to the topic of nutrition. I used to eat whatever, when ever, and how ever much I could. I rarely added fresh fruit of vegetable to my diet. I had a diet of mainly processed foods high in fat and sugars. It never occurred to me that the hormones in my milk and meat may affect me in some way. I ate just like everyone else that I worked with, and I worked in a doctor's office where you think that nutrition would be first on our minds. Not by far! In fact it's been my experience that our healthcare workers are just as sick and unhealthy as the patients they are treating. That is, until I went to work in natural medicine. I became aware of the dangers that I was putting in my body day in and day out. I discovered a world of people that glowed in physical appearance and spiritual energy. The patients that came to this doctor didn't look ill, even if they were. The focus of the doctors concerns were always on the patient's diet and how much water they drank. I started paying attention. I first started by just cutting out most dairy products…I lost around 10 pounds in the first few weeks by just doing that. Then I began to eat more raw fruits and vegetables and cut out processed (poisoned) foods. That made a big difference in the energy I began to have and the way I felt in general. I choose to stick to more of a macrobiotic diet now. I can eat sushi every day and I come close to doing that. I eat only whole grains and rarely do I open a can or a box filled with processed foods in my house. One other thing I try to do is by only organic, sometimes it's just too expensive so I buy regular. I am hoping to grow my own garden this year…we will see how that goes. I no longer even think of eating fast food ( as a matter of fact it makes me ill), I never need a nap any more, I don't get frustrated as easily, I enjoy my life, and I rarely get sick. I choose to take supplements along with a healthy diet only because I feel that our food looses a lot of its nutrition if its radiated. The funny thing, if we listen to our bodies they tell exactly what they need and what is wrong if they are not filled with junk every day.
As I mentioned with my mom she was raised not knowing about the importance of nutrition. I wasn't raised with that either, but I was fortunate enough to become educated on its importance and believe in it, she didn't believe in it. As they say, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." I feel that most of the population doesn't even know there's a water trough. I feel we should make more of an attempt in educating our society about processed foods, refined sugars and flours and how dangerous these things can be to our body. Proper nutrition is crucial in how we feel emotionally and spiritually. This is why in some areas they treat depression or the so called ADHD with amino acid therapy and diet changes first and they have very good outcomes with just changing that. Our bodies are so important that we spend inconsiderable amounts to cover them in name brand clothes, pay excruciating amounts to haul them around in cars, but to think of spending a little bit more for fresh organic or local foods in unfathomable. With industrialization we have eliminated the appreciation and the importance of the food we put in our bodies. Starting at the elementary age we should incorporate programs such as the farm to school programs, give incentives for families to grow gardens once again, bring back the local farmers. Nutrition classes and disease awareness classes could be considered in our high school right alongside of sex ed. If we can teach our children about homosexual behaviors in school, then I see no problem teaching them about taking care of their body with the right foods. Whatever it takes to teach this new generation that the way things are being done right now are WRONG. Things must be changed or we will have an ugly, sick, and unhappy world of people.
